Cranking iPhone video up a notch

In my neverending quest to make the iPhone a legitimate tool in our newsgathering arsenal, I may have found a device that finally resolves all audio concerns.

For anyone wh uses the iPhone for video, you'll know that the audio quality leaves something to be desired. For professional video newsgathering, you've got nothing without good audi

Enter the Fostex AR-4i, a lightweight battery powered device with all the bells and whistles to take audio to the next level.

After picking up the unit several months ago, I finally got an opportunity to test it out...and WOW.

It's got three input options with volume controller and a headphone jack with volume control.

I took it into the Jets dressing room recently and got in on some player scrums.

Using my wireless handheld microphone for the Andrew Ladd scrum, I was able to capture broadcast quality sound through the third input and secondary (backup) audio off one of the top mics.

On the Blake Wheeler scrum, I used both of the top mics (which came with the unit) and ditched the wireless. I had to boost the levels a bit which led to more background noise, but it was still more than usable.

The grand finale was the Claude Noel interview. He stands behind a podium and all broadcast media plug into a sound board which, up until now, was impossible with an iPhone. Not today.

The Fostex comes with a separate app which allows you to set inputs to mono or stereo and a few other options. Good times.

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